Sea anchors are well-known. Sea anchors are useful in holding the bow of a vessel head-up into the wind. In addition, sea anchors are useful for retarding the rate of drift of vessels under wind pressure and for increasing the rate of drift in water currents.
A typical collapsible sea anchor is explemified by Frieder U.S. Pat. No. 2,536,681 teaching, in effect, the collapsible parachute-like device having a flexible fabric canopy joined by a plurality of shroud lines to an anchoring line which is to be tied to a vessel. Other known sea anchors comprise frusto-conical devices which are dragged through the water with their larger end first so as to provide a funnelling effect and thereby drag on the vessel.
Kayaks are known light-weight, single to multiple man, typically double-ended vessels having occupant seats near their middle. Sea anchors may advantageously be used under many circumstances in kayaks, particularly, in kayaks used on the open sea. It is, however, extremely difficult to deploy or retract a sea anchor from a kayak. Even expert kayakers experience difficulties and it is not uncommon for the deployment or retraction of a sea anchor by inexperienced kayakers to result in the capsize of the kayak.